Dark secrets
by winchestergirl1
Summary: AU Dean is a tutor at university and he notices something wrong with a girl in his class, will he be able to help her and what is she hiding?
1. Chapter 1

_AU Dean is a tutor at university and he notices something wrong with a girl in his class, will he be able to help her and what is she hiding?_

_AN: Just something that wrote itself when I found a paragraph I'd scribbled weeks ago. Let me know if you're interested, not sure if I'll bother to continue it with uni at the moment but it could be interesting…_

_Hope you enjoy :)_

He saw her from his seat at the front of the room sat amongst the 20 students in his tutorial. She'd said a bit in previous weeks showing she knew plenty and did the readings but probably wasn't real keen on talking or taking away from other students talking. Last week and today though she'd been silent. Sat with head down mostly and probably only here because tutorials were mandatory. He called her name and she looked up, he saw it straight away - a light blue tint to her left cheekbone. She answered the question quickly and looked down again. He felt a pit in his stomach, he quickly looked back to the rest of the class when he realized his gaze had lingered a second too long and continued talking. His mind however was on the girl, what had happened, who would hurt her, was she in danger, why did she seem so sad. Above all he was worried and had an unexplainable desire to help her, whatever the problem may be.

When the tutorial finished the students got up to leave. The girl had come in slightly late and the only seat left had been farthest from the door so she was the last be able to leave. Once most of them had left and she was nearing the door he called her name. With her back to him he saw her tense and freeze for a second before composing herself and turning around, attempting to keep her bruised cheek turned from him. He was leaning on a desk trying to look casual and non-threatening. He was surprised this girl had stirred such strong feelings in him and wasn't quite sure where to go from here.

"How are you finding the topic… Alessa, right?"

She nodded "Yea it's pretty good." She said, trying to speak normally and seem nonchalant.

"No problems?" He tried.

"Nope." was her quick reply.

_Crap, what do I do now?_ He thought to himself. _Anything more and am I crossing a line?_ He could see in her eyes an uncertainty that was hiding a subtle fear, of what he wasn't sure but he knew if he just let this go something bad could happen and he couldn't live with that.

"I uh, I saw the mark on your face…" He ventured.

Her eyes slightly widened and he got a clearer look at that fear. When she didn't say anything he pressed on.

"…What happened?"

She'd gathered her rarely scrambled thoughts and was almost back on the ball.

"Oh it's nothing, I play soccer for the university team and just caught a stray ball before I could get out the way." She lied smoothly, managing to tack on an embarrassed laugh in memory of the whole incident.

Dean just gave an apprehensive nod, not believing her for a second. He'd perfected the art of picking out lies in his earlier days, and though she might think she was good and would probably fool the average person, she had no chance with him. He knew though that he had no way to get the truth if she wasn't willing (or was too scared) to tell him.

She made a quick retreat with a "See you next week" thrown over her shoulder.

His worry had notched up a level, he just had a really bad feeling about this and that fear he'd seen in her was a dead giveaway that something nasty was going on in her life.

He'd been around enough bad to pick it out nowadays. Back when he'd lived a life on the road travelling with his conman father from town to town, trouble had come his way more frequently than it did for most. Dean had been too young at first to know what his dad was doing, when he'd dropped Dean at school, he'd thought he was going to work like anyone else, thought everything was normal, except that he didn't have a mother, his dad had said she'd died but nothing else, he didn't remember her at all. When Dean walked home from school in grade 4 to find two men waiting at his home of the month and his dad nowhere to be seen, he'd had his first encounter with bad.

Yes, he could pick it, and there was something about this girl that screamed at him to help, to protect her from whatever she was afraid of. But he didn't know how right now, chances are he wouldn't see her again in the thousands of people who attended the university. He let her go and now if something happened to her it would be on him, he'd had the chance to help and let her walk away. What was he supposed to do though, force her to tell him what was happening? Follow her all day? He was at a loss for an answer, then it came to him, stalkerish as it may be he could look up her timetable on the university's database, just to check in on her, maybe get a clue as to what was going on. Hopefully she went to all her classes and lectures, not like half the other kids.

With his plan in motion he sat in the back of the last lecture Alessa had for the day, as it finished he watched as she put her things away and hefted her bag onto her shoulder, he caught the wince as the full weight pulled down on her, adding further concern and confirmation. He looked down to gather his things as she passed then subtly followed her outside.

It was almost dark outside which gave him plenty of cover as he followed at quite a distance. She walked out to the main road and down towards a bus stop many people caught rides home from. As he stood in the shadow of a tree waiting for her to put some more distance between them, a dark car suddenly flew past him and screeched to a stop beside her. A man jumped out and grabbed her, pulling her into the back seat before speeding off again.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN The writing bug called again, here goes…  
><em>

* * *

><p>Dean had sprinted out after the car but didn't have a chance, he was too far away. He did manage to glimpse the plates and was frantically repeating them in his head so he didn't forget. He pulled out his phone and typed them in then called 911.<p>

"911 what is your emergency?" the tinny voice asked

"I need to report a kidnapping"

Once he'd given them the few details he knew he hung up and was at a loss. _I knew something was wrong! Look what's happened- I should've stopped it!_ He berated himself. He knew that was unreasonable but he felt that he was her only chance, no one else had probably realized anything was amiss.

He stood there heart still thudding hard with the adrenalin of the past few minutes. _What can I do?_ He thought desperately. _The police aren't likely to be able to do anything, they don't have the time to commit to a decent search and right now anything could be happening to her_ he was horrified as all the possibilities flooded his head. Past experience with law enforcement hadn't exactly given him a solid faith in their abilities either. _I need to do something, need to help her…_ He thought of the plate number he had and a less than ideal idea formed.

He had the contact numbers of a few shady people from his youth when he'd been dragged into jobs with his father. At first he was happy to do seemingly innocent errands for his Dad, delivering a package to one man, picking up items from another. When he'd been granted higher roles in his father's 'enterprises' he'd begun to get a bad feeling, when he questioned his Dad he was told to shape up and shut up or he'd be sorry. Threats had come to pass and he rarely questioned business activities until he was able to leave that life for good.

Back at his house not far from the university, buried in the back of one of many forgotten storage boxes, he dug out an old notebook with numerous names and numbers with occasional notes jotted down. He found the name he wanted.

"Yea?" Came the gravelly voice when the phone picked up.

"It's Dean…" a moment's pause. "John's son."

Another moment before "Ohhh yeaa" came the drawn out reply "Dean Winchester. How long's it been huh? 8, 10 years?"

"Something like that, look I need a favor."

"Whoa, whoa, steady on, I haven't heard from you in donkey's ages and you're demanding favors? No pleasantries, no catching up?"

"Yea, I wouldn't call you if I didn't have to Shamus, I was never a fan of the world you live in."

"Well if you're gonna be like that why should I do anything for you?"

"Cause I have info on you that could put you away for years and you know it."

"Hold on, hold on, there's no need for that, was just having a lend of you Deano. What can I do for you son."

Dean cringed at the term. "I need you to run a check on a pair of plates PYK 658."

"Not a worry, system's working on it now. Say Dean where is your daddy these days?"

"I wouldn't know." He answered stiffly

"Hmm…" was the only response for a minute. Then "Here we go, registered to a V. Allen, address 78 Hanting Street, Memphis. Running the name…"

Dean was glad Shamus didn't have to be asked, apparently he really didn't want Dean blabbing to anyone about anything.

"Squeaky clean." Dean's head fell, that meant less idea of what was going on "But… his brother R. Allen's done the rounds – fraud, assault, armed robbery, looks like a nasty fella. Got an address couple streets over from Hanting – Gliben Road, number 12. Look Dean who are these guys-" He was cut off as Dean hung up.

He was in his car moments later. Looking up the address, he worked out a quick route and sped off. Gliben Road first, whoever this was, was almost definitely using the clean name as a decoy. R. Allen, whoever the hell that was sounded like a dangerous guy, hired muscle or someone Alessa somehow got mixed up with.

He pulled up 20 minutes later down the street from the dark house. No lights and no cars he could see- could easily be round the back. Dean crept up the side of the house, the complete darkness giving him ample cover. As he rounded the back corner he saw the same car that took Alessa. The pit growing in his stomach, Dean tried to scope the place out – windows, escape routes. Not seeing a better way in, he slid up to the back door, grabbing a shovel leaning against the wall on his way. Hearing no movement inside, he carefully twisted the handle and eased the door open.

Softly treading his way further in he looked for signs of where they might be keeping Alessa. As he moved stealthily through the kitchen, he saw a closed door with a dull light glowing out from gap at the bottom. As he moved towards the door didn't see the toy until he trod on it and it let out a high pitched squeal. Instantly there was a cacophony of savage barking as several large, feral sounding dogs were stirred in the house. Dean tried to make a retreat but they bowled into the room surrounding him and snapping at his legs as he tried to hold them off with the shovel. Loud footfalls were heard before the door he'd been aiming for swung open and a man with a rifle stood in it. "Shut it!" he yelled to the dogs as he leveled the weapon at Dean.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked in a greasy voice

"I… I-" Having no way of explaining his way out of why he was there, he drew a blank. The man slowly advanced before suddenly whipping the butt of the gun up and knocking Dean out cold.


	3. Chapter 3

Muffled sounds were first to come to him. Pushing through his consciousness for several seconds before memory hit him. He startled fully awake, head snapping up to take in danger and surrounds. He squinted against the seemingly bright light and realized he was tied securely to a chair pushed up against a wall in a small room. Opposite him, several meters away, was Alessa, bound like him to a chair and with a gag in her mouth as well. She looked scared but somewhat resigned as well – that worried Dean. Next thing he knew two men stepped into his line of vision, blocking the light behind them so he could only see their silhouette for a few seconds before making out faint facial features.

"So who the hell _are_ you then?" The slightly smaller and more wiry man asked. Dean vaguely recognized his voice from earlier in the night – was it still night? When Dean didn't reply after a few seconds the larger man backhanded him across the face.

"He asked you a question." He spat out.

Dean recovered quickly to glare back at them. When it was obvious they would do whatever to get an answer, Dean grit out venomously "Just a friend of Alessa's"

"Alessa ey!" The smaller one exclaimed, turning to her "That's the name you're giving people these days huh?"

Alessa's face screwed up in defiance and she looked away.

Looking back at Dean he sneered "See to us she's Tyler, and Tyler here has something of ours which we'd very much like back." Alessa's…Tyler's? eyes remained fixed resolutely on the floor.

"Now what are we gonna do about you?" The wiry man asked aloud.

"Uh suggestion?" Dean tried, voice dripping in sarcasm "Let us go before you get in more trouble than you can handle."

Both men took a beat before they began laughing "And how do you figure that?" Wiry asked in a humored voice.

With a cocky grin he answered "I got your plates to the cops before I came here, won't take them long to figure out where you are like I did." At that the smirks dropped from the men's faces. The quiet big one took another swing at Dean's face. C_lassic brains and brawn duo then_ Dean thought as he reeled from a harder hit this time. He looked up and caught Alessa's eye, she look imploringly at him and he wasn't sure exactly what she was thinking.

Alessa had jumped alert when the dogs had gone berserk earlier and watched with trepidation as 'Craig' had grabbed the rifle, cocking it and opening the door. What seemed like moments later he called for 'Garry' and _DEAN! -_her development studies tutor, was dragged down the couple stairs into the room unconscious and tied up. Half an hour later he stirred awake and now he'd pissed off the two thugs she feared and had been hiding from for months. She wished he'd placate them, not stir them up, he had no idea what he was dealing with, she wished he'd not gotten involved, hadn't a clue why he had, but deep down she was achingly grateful she wasn't alone anymore.

The smaller one, Craig, was out the room on the phone talking in a hushed voice to someone, the urgency could be heard in his voice. A minute later he was called Garry out. Garry gave them a warning look before pulling himself up the stairs.

Dean seized the opportunity, drawing on his earlier life experience in crappy situations he picked back up the role of urgent problem solving. "Alessa do these guys have any more weapons?" Yes/no questions since she was gagged. A headshake- good. "Do you know this area?" A tentative nod, so kind of. "OK be ready to run if the opportunity comes, head in the safest direction, think cover, hiding places, difficult to get to." He half whispered quickly just before tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum came back in.

"Well thanks for the tip of about the cops mate, in that case we're gonna be heading out to a new location." Dean knew this meant being untied before being bound again for transport which he knew would be the best opportunity to get an advantage over these guys. When he saw the butt of the gun coming towards his face again he thought…maybe not.

_Man, this has got to stop happening._ Dean thought as he came around again. _I'm gonna get brain damage._ This time when he opened his eyes there was complete darkness. _Shit, did that knock blind me?_ He panicked for a second, whipping his head around to try and see anything. It was then he caught a crack of light coming from under a door and he let out a sigh of relief. Somewhere to his right he heard a noise. He was on his back, hands tied behind his back and feet bound. He pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Hello?" he asked quietly. The noise came again; a murmur and Dean picked it up as someone making noise through a gag. "Alessa?" An affirmative sound. "Well you really are in some kinda trouble aren't you." He said casually. "Scrap that, _we_ are in trouble."

_How is he sounding so calm? He should be freaking out, hell, _I'm_ barely keeping it together_ Alessa panicked.

"Hey I have an idea, if you're not tied to something, maybe I could get your gag off, my hands are behind my back." Another quiet, affirmative noise. He began shuffling over to where he thought she was and she did the same. When he hit what he thought was her legs they stopped. "Ok, you gotta get your mouth to my hands somehow." She moved her body to find where his back was. She at once felt comforted to have someone there, to be right next to someone who didn't want to hurt her; wanted to help her even. She felt with her cheek down his arm breathing in his pleasant scent and eventually to his hands. It took a minute and the gag was tight but they eventually snagged it free.

"Got it!" Dean exclaimed quietly. "Now, you wanna tell me what the hell's going on?" he asked softly.

He heard her sniffle for a second before she steadied her voice and spoke "I don't have what they want. They're gonna kill me." There was quiet terror in the statement but also that resignation again that unnerved him.

"What exactly is it?" he pushed.

A pause, then a whisper- "Information. I was supposed to find someone… at the university. It's bad, what they want, I couldn't do it… but I can't get away! The Leader, he- he's not human!"


End file.
